Electrosurgery is the application of radiofrequency electrical energy to biological tissue to cut, coagulate, desiccate, or fulgurate tissue. Electrosurgical units typically include an electrosurgical generator configured to supply the electrical energy, and an electrosurgical hand piece configure to electrically couple with the electrosurgical unit and deliver the electrical energy to the tissue. There are two modes by which electrosurgical energy is typically applied to tissue. Monopolar electrosurgery is the passage of high-frequency current to tissue through a single active electrode to a return electrode positioned remotely from the electrode where heating does not take place. Bipolar electrosurgery is the passage of high-frequency current to tissue between two commonly-supported active electrodes where both actively heat tissue.
Monopolar configurations are widely used for general cutting and coagulation procedures, as the current field has a high current density near the active electrode. Bipolar configurations are widely used for procedures such as coagulation and ablation of tissue where a volume of tissue is positioned between two active electrodes. The current field in a bipolar device is contained between the two electrodes. Thus, it may be advantageous to use both a bipolar hand piece and a monopolar hand piece during the same procedure and at the same time to provide for multiple treatment modalities and reduce surgical times. However, current electrosurgical units only allow for the surgeon to use either one electrosurgical hand piece at time or to use two electrosurgical hand pieces at a time, but those two electrosurgical hand pieces must operate in monopolar mode only. Thus, no electrosurgical units exists that allow for the simultaneous operation of a monopolar hand piece and a bipolar hand piece.